Kay’s Blog: Back from Vacation and What do we Find?

We were somewhat isolated in our vacation spot in Maine: no TV! No radio! Although various folks had their I-Phones, they were mostly focused on the Olympics and not the political news. So it was Saturday morning when we all got into our various cars to return to homes did we hear the news on NPR about Romney’s pick or his VP: Paul Ryan. We were quite surprised at the selection, considering his high-profile conservative stances on budgetary and governmental issues; he certainly makes a large target for criticism. But considering Romney’s waffling character, the “etch-a-sketch” nature of his positions, his lack of any specific policy statements, perhaps Ryan is the perfect solution for the new Republican “base”. Here is a righteous right wing ideologue with real appeal to the Tea Party extremists–the perfect fix for a wishy-washy presidential candidate. The enthusiastic crowds at the weekend rallys have shown Ryan’s drawing power. He offers the base real red meat and no mealy-mouth platitudes hidden in a cloud.

This choice has given Democrats something they wanted: a clear focus on economic choices that will be made in November. Ryan, as VP has provided the opportunity for the vast American Public to vote for what they want. The Democrats think the choice will be for their vision, but maybe more of them will opt for the simplistic notion of “less Government and more Freedom!”

I say “notion” because I firmly believe that the unseen consequences of such a choice would result in such a drastic alteration in our economy and the quality of people’s lives that most Republican officials would be driven out of office SO FAST that it would cause significant disruption in our world. However, with any Republican presidency the damage done to the Supreme Court would be nearly irreparable, so I certainly don’t go along with the “catastrophists” who think a Republican Presidency would be so disastrous that Democrats would be swept back into power even in the South. (well, maybe the mid south!)

So how can we use this against Chris Gibson, who has been trying to become more moderate to appeal to the more Democratic demographics of his new District? Like Ryan his seems like a “nice guy” personally. Yet time after time he has followed the radical call of the Right when he votes. He voted for the Ryan Budget Plan, after all. Every effort to link him to Ryan will be beneficial for Schreibman in order to encourage voters to vote the whole Democratic line, from Obama, on to Kirsten Gillibrand and on to Schreibman for Congress and Didi Barrett for State Assembly. We need to loosen the Republican hold on the Congress for any progress to happen, even with continued Democratic control of the Senate and the Presidency. I will be gathering information on Gibson’s voting record in the near future for your information so you can confidently say to your neighbor, “I know, I’ve heard that he’s a nice guy, but did you know that he voted (for) (against) …….”

For a very good summary of Ryan’ positions I recommend the following opinion piece in the NY Times from today, August 13th, by William Keller: